Udon with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage, and Yams

A Japanese-style noodle soup that's full of healthful things: mushrooms, yams, carrots—and even salty, savory, vitamin-and mineral-rich seaweed. For details on the ingredients used in this dish, see "Ingredient Tips" at the end of the recipe.

Preparation

For broth:

Bring broth and 3 cups water to simmer in large pot over medium heat. Add cilantro, mushrooms, sliced ginger, and lemongrass. Cover; simmer until mushrooms are tender, about 30 minutes. Rinse kombu; add to broth. Simmer 1 minute. Using tongs, remove kombu and mushrooms; discard kombu. Transfer mushrooms to work surface; cut off stems and discard. Cut each mushroom into 3 to 4 strips. Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer into another large pot; discard solids in strainer. Add tamari and rice vinegar to broth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill mushrooms. Cool, cover, and chill broth.

Lemongrass, an herb that resembles a green onion, has a mild lemony flavor. Kombu (a.k.a. kelp) is a variety of seaweed thats often used for making stock. It's usually sold dried. Tamari is a dark sauce made from soybeans. Udon is a thick wheat-or corn-based Japanese noodle. Sambal oelek, a spicy chili sauce, is a common ingredient in Indonesian and Chinese cooking. Look for these ingredients in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets and at Asian markets.

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Reviews

While this recipe is
a bit time
consuming, it's well
worth the effort if
only for the
nutrition that's jam
packed into every
bowl. Grab your
partner or a friend
and get them
chopping. It's a
great cure for a
cold or the body
blahs.

This is made more
simply by using a
"dashi": one ounce kombu
brought just to a
boil in 6 cups of
water. Don't let it
boil, remove it from
the heat, remove
kombu and stash in
fridge. It keeps 4
or 5 days.
When you're ready
for soup you can add
the tamari and
vinegar & shitake
right to the broth.
Pre-cook the
carrots, yams and
noodles and whatever else and let
people add what they
want. Save the green
onions and ginger
until the very last.
There are many
variations on this:
Miso, instead of
tamari and vinegar;
mirin and soy. Easy.
Tasty. Kids know
when something is
fresh and clean.
They'll like it.
There is a way to pickle the kombu. Does anyone know it?

I hadn't read all of the instructions before starting the recipe -- big mistake. No kombu or dried shiitakes in the cupboard. But, the broth with fresh shiitakes turned out great and the soup tastes healthy and is quite satisfying. Not sure how to save all the lefvtovers, but looking forward to dinner tomorrow night!

I REALLY enjoyed this recipe. I made it for my wife on her request and was positive I wouldn't like it. To my surprise it was very good. The recipe was very easy too. Im no cook. I look foward to this again!!

I made this at the
request of my son
and his wife, I was
cooking dinner for
them, not having
dinner with them so
I didn't partake of
this dish.
However, I found it
very odd that the
recipe calls for
Kombu which is
simmered for one
minute and then
discarded. I wonder
how much this could
possibly add to the
flavor of the broth
and it seemed
wasteful. The kids
said it was ok but
questioned why there
was so much broth in
proportion to the
solids. It did seem
very healthy. Would
not choose to make
this for myself and
doubt the kids will
request it again.

Ok so its like 2.5 forks (really good). I wouldn't describe it as labor intensive, as its just some chopping and boiling of things, but it is very methodical. It took me about 45min to an hour to make (exclusive of the broth which I used my chicken stock because all vegetables are better when bathed in a little chicken stock), and the resulting dish is beautiful.

This was waaaay too much work for the result. Tracking down all of the ingredients was difficult and quite expensive. I only have one large pot so that made things still more interesting. I understand the whole japanese "sushi mindset" idea of serving food simple and as raw as possible, but soup and crunchy half-raw veggies don't mix on my palette.

All I can say is WOW, delicious! I usually fail at any type of Asian cuisine, but this was incredibly straight forward. This recipe is easily adaptable to any season, swapping out different veggies. Keeping the garnishes separate from the broth really adds a lot to the taste. Everything retains its own flavors and textures. I can't wait to make this again!

eversince, if you skipped all the veggies didn't you just end up with cabbage, mushroom and scallion? Rikerj I think you are supposed to split the noodles, veggies and broth in 4-6 bowls together not in separate bowls. That said, recipe looks good and I'll be back to rate once I make it!

I love all the ingredients in this soup and somehow, after following the directions to T, I found it lacking. Because all the veggies are cooked separately, it didn't come together the way I had hoped. I must say it is a very great looking soup though.

This one is a handful, especially if you make the lovely vegetable broth as well (worth it, by the way), but great for a winter day when you're staying home out of the cold. Skipped the snow peas, yams and carrots; there were plenty of healthy vegetables without them. Any vegetable you like would work well. Overall, really satisfying and worth the work.

Definitely delicious and definitely intricate to make
- even though it doesn't seem it should be.
Since each ingredient ends up in a separate bowl
before each person serving themselves, make sure
you have enough bowls clean. I followed the recipe
exactly and the product was soooo good.

This was a good soup, but I didn't think the mushroom broth added much flavor. Next time I would just make a a basic, easy miso broth and add the vegetables called for in the recipe (including parsnip), as well as ginger, cilantro, and a dash of lemon juice and then season with a dash of hot sauce (I used Srirachia). I thought the sweetness of the yams and parsnip balanced the heat of the soup well. All in all, a good soup, but not a great soup, and too labor-intensive for the results.